equipment protection requirements

[socalelect]

what as far as the NEC is concerned is required for electrical equipment protection ?
i dont have my copy of 2011 handy (im at home its at work )
i belive it is in 110.27(b)

the item i feel needs protection is a gate keypad placed in the middle of a driveway about 30 feet from the openers and lining up with another driveway

heres a horrible drawing of it

 

[kwired]

what as far as the NEC is concerned is required for electrical equipment protection ?
i dont have my copy of 2011 handy (im at home its at work )
i belive it is in 110.27(b)

the item i feel needs protection is a gate keypad placed in the middle of a driveway about 30 feet from the openers and lining up with another driveway

heres a horrible drawing of it

What are you protecting it from? You asked a question that is very wide open to interpretation as to what you may mean. More information about the equipment may also be helpful, although most will make some assumptions that this is a class 2 control circuit.

110.27(B) does address physical damage. It does not give any specific details as to how to do it, or for that matter address the differences between physical damage from people Vs physical damage from cars, trucks or other machines. It leaves those kinds of judgements to the installer and/or AHJ.

 

[socalelect]

protection from vehicles there is traffic on both sides

it is a 4" sq steel post with a keypad mounted to it conduit runs up the post ,

this is a low voltage 24VAC control circuit i believe

 

[jaggedben]

I'm not so familiar with low voltage parts of the code, but I don't believe the NEC is going to have much physical protection requirements for a low voltage device like that. If it is installed in a raceway (conduit), that's pretty good for most things anyway. Pretty much everything in the NEC is there for a safety reason, either safety from electrocution or prevention of fires. Protecting people from losing money because they didn't protect their stuff from physical damage is not really within the scope of the NEC.

 

[kwired]

protection from vehicles there is traffic on both sides

it is a 4" sq steel post with a keypad mounted to it conduit runs up the post ,

this is a low voltage 24VAC control circuit i believe

Next thing is how heavy of a vehicle and how fast will it be traveling do you want to protect it from?

If it is a class 2 circuit and happens to become exposed it is not much of a danger as compared to a class 1 or power and lighting circuit.

 

[kwired]

I'm not so familiar with low voltage parts of the code, but I don't believe the NEC is going to have much physical protection requirements for a low voltage device like that. If it is installed in a raceway (conduit), that's pretty good for most things anyway. Pretty much everything in the NEC is there for a safety reason, either safety from electrocution or prevention of fires. Protecting people from losing money because they didn't protect their stuff from physical damage is not really within the scope of the NEC.

He could have 120 volt lighting on same sized steel post, it will still be damaged by most vehicles if they run into it.
At some point you have to decide just exactly what you want damage you want to protect from as well as what hazards you want to minimize if there is damage.